THIS PART IS MORE BORING, BELOW IS COOL SALASACA STUFF
Well, I am in Baños briefly to use what we will call the ¨real internet.¨ Salasaca, sometimes, has very slow Internet, sometimes, maybe.
I arrived in Quito and surprisingly there was absolutely no problem with the pump. They didn´t even ask me what it was! Which was good, because on the plane ride I was thinking about it, and the word for pump in Spanish is ¨bomba,¨ unfortunately, ¨bomba¨ also means bomb. So I didn´t know what I was going to say. Because ¨I have a bomba¨ would probably be translated as ¨I have a bomb,¨ instead of ¨I have a pipe.¨ Talk about lost in translation. But there were no problems.
There was, however, a HUGE problem with my passport. Turns out the Consul General of Ecuador in San Francisco was WRONG. Your six month maximum in the country isn´t the calendar year, it´s from the first date of entry. The guy and I argued a long time, and he was acting like he wasn´t even going to let me in the country! I was very stressed out. Finally, after yelling at me a lot, he stamped my passport for the 72 days I have left out of the six months, stictly admonishing me that I better not overstay.
So, now I need a visa. Luckily, they said at Salasaca that they would help me get a visa. I went to the visa place on Tuesday, an unlabeled office above a bargain retail store (impossible to find!). But of course, they closed at 12 on Tuesdays. So I thought I´d come back on Wednesday. WRONG! They´re closed every Wednesday, just because. So who knows how this is going to work out. But I am sure it will.
NOW FOR THE SALASACA ENTRY
From the roof overlooking my own apartment, you can see three volcanos when it is clear. Tungurahua is incredible. The snow, not present last year because of the eruption, has come back to sprinkle the brim of the volcano right below where the smoke is bellowing out in black curls.
I wake up very early. First, because of the news which is broadcasted over loudspeakers at about 6 am every morning. Landlords pay fifty cents to have the names of their renters who have not paid announced during the news. Supposedly, having your name and rent delinquency awaking the whole village is enough to embarass any one to pay up. Then there are the usual dogs and chickens. After some oatmeal, R and I begin the steep hike up to the school a few kilometers in the mountains. He flies, walking so fast though he is seventy-five, that I can hardly keep up with him, especially with this pounding headache from altitude sickness.
The children in the school are 4 to 14 years old. The school is bilingual (Quichua-Spanish), though they are trying to introduce English to become a true polyglot little place. I helped the littlest children today. They were adorable, but troublesome, like all children.
And, good thing I´ve been studying Quichua. I point to a hummingbird ¨what is this¨ I say in Spanish. Pishku!! they scream proudly. This is not a Spanish word. It´s Quichua for bird. ¨Okay, but what kind of pishku?¨ I asked in Spanish. Then I taught them colibri (hummingbird) and loro (parrot). And Mark, remember ¨mishki murukuna¨?! Today I helped the four year olds sort pictures into ¨mishki murukuna¨(sweet fruits) versus ¨hampi¨ (medicinal) plants.
We ate lunch seated with all the students. Lunch was lentil and potato soup, of course. Later we left to cries of ¨See you tomorrow (English), Hasta mañana (Spanish), and Kayakama (Quichua).¨ That was really cool, being followed by a small horde of children repeating ¨See you later, Hasta mañana, Kayakama¨ as though it was just one long way of saying goodbye.
I think this is going to be a really good experience, especially when I get a softer bed next week that doesn´t feel like sleeping on rocks like my current one does!
I will update the next time I have working Internet (maybe the Internet God will think of Salasaca one of these days).
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
Prepared... Finally... I guess (plus an unexpected international call)
Well, it's 3 am, and, finally, I think, all the logistics are set. Stuff is ready to go... I make it quite hard on myself because I am taking about 30 pounds of books. Foolhardy, maybe, but between donations, Quichua dictionaries, Spanish dictionaries, travel guides, and a book or two for leisure, I just can't leave any thing behind. So must of the weight is books. Again. And this time I am taking a laptop. A very old laptop that I got for free.
This time I am also not making the mistake of leaving my iPod behind! No more two day bus rides where you're too squished and sick to read and the only sounds are old Quichua guys snoring contentedly on your shoulder while a baby two rows ahead throws up in the aisle! Now I will have Simon and Garfunkel or Tool to drown that all out!
And an unexpected call from Santiago, an Ecuadorian friend, tonight. Making things even more complicated. He proclaims that "of course he is going to meet me at the airport" the moment my flight arrives, ignoring the fact that I might already have plans, which may or may not include a village pump fiasco (see previous entry). I think he mistook my surprise for reluctance to meet him when it was the opposite. I'd love to see him! I just also would have loved to know that in advance considering I am arriving at midnight, and it's hard to make hotel plans at that hour. My listening-to-Spanish on the phone skills are not what I would like them to be, which does not help the situation. But it appears that I will have a friendly face to greet me when I have just arrived. A bit of a shock as I did expect to adjust a bit before seeing old faces. Bit of a shock. But good. I think. Hmmmm.... mixed feelings!
Stress and exhaustion is making me incoherent and whiny right now so I think I will sign off. I will most likely find a second to update you all on my safe arrival around Tuesday, because tomorrow will be a late night, fighting travel exhaustion, fighting customs, finding lodging, and seeing Santiago for the first time in four months!
Next dispatch from Quito...
Love, Elizabeth
This time I am also not making the mistake of leaving my iPod behind! No more two day bus rides where you're too squished and sick to read and the only sounds are old Quichua guys snoring contentedly on your shoulder while a baby two rows ahead throws up in the aisle! Now I will have Simon and Garfunkel or Tool to drown that all out!
And an unexpected call from Santiago, an Ecuadorian friend, tonight. Making things even more complicated. He proclaims that "of course he is going to meet me at the airport" the moment my flight arrives, ignoring the fact that I might already have plans, which may or may not include a village pump fiasco (see previous entry). I think he mistook my surprise for reluctance to meet him when it was the opposite. I'd love to see him! I just also would have loved to know that in advance considering I am arriving at midnight, and it's hard to make hotel plans at that hour. My listening-to-Spanish on the phone skills are not what I would like them to be, which does not help the situation. But it appears that I will have a friendly face to greet me when I have just arrived. A bit of a shock as I did expect to adjust a bit before seeing old faces. Bit of a shock. But good. I think. Hmmmm.... mixed feelings!
Stress and exhaustion is making me incoherent and whiny right now so I think I will sign off. I will most likely find a second to update you all on my safe arrival around Tuesday, because tomorrow will be a late night, fighting travel exhaustion, fighting customs, finding lodging, and seeing Santiago for the first time in four months!
Next dispatch from Quito...
Love, Elizabeth
Sunday, May 27, 2007
The Legacy of the Village Pump continues
The pump arrived! The pained expression in the picture is because that sucker is heavier than it looks!
So I talked with R down in Salasaca about the logistics of getting the pump through customs. He responded to me, saying that the provincial government was supposed to send a document to Quito exempting the pump from customs fees. But, in typical Latin American style, Thursday was a holiday, and so no one worked on Thursday. And then, for good measure, they just decided not to work Friday either (and these are the government officials!) So, according to R, my permission to take in the pump is sitting on someone's abandoned desk in Pelileo right now. So they are going to "try to handle it on Monday," but if the customs officials give me trouble, then I am to leave the pump there, get all the names, etc, and then we will fight to get it back. Sheesh!
In other news, I am furiously preparing right now, so I don't have time to post much more. Yesterday was Spend-A-Fortune-At-Target Day as I bought 150 dollars worth of soap, toiletries, antibacterial hand stuff, a new watch, sunglasses, batteries, toothbrush holders, razors, etc, etc, etc. Today is Freak-Out-While-Doing-Laundry Day. A little stressed. Scratch that. Very stressed.
Oh, and then I realized that I had nothing booked in Quito even though I am arriving at midnight tomorrow!!! Oops. And I need my own room since I MIGHT have a 1300 dollar village pump with me. So I just called a hostal in Quito that has single rooms, and I am pretty sure I have a room for Monday night, but I remembered why I hate speaking Spanish on the phone, especially when the connection is bad! And they hear my Spanish and think because I speak Spanish that they can talk 100 miles a minute while the static cuts in and out! And Mark was listening to NPR in the background in English! Argh! So, I think I have a reservation! I hope!
Next update might be tonight... might be from Quito...
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Teaching Logistics and Water Pumps
Well, I don't have anything interesting to say, but the day is approaching... so I'll give a few updates...
How does this whole teaching thing work exactly? As some people (Ashli!) observed, I haven't discussed the logistics much, but I figured they be boring. But here they are anyway.
Like anywhere else in the world, Ecuador has its share of American and European expats fleeing their First World comforts in search of... what? I don't know exactly. A purpose? A simpler life (a phrase often used, though probably not PC nowadays)? Take, for example, Bob, who Mark and I met in rural Mexico. He is a former US Marine who retired to the Mexican coast and now spends his days and some of his pension working with a local Mexican nurse just doing good, in general. They help fund school uniforms, they get their American friends to bring medical and educational donations when they come, they visit elderly people and give them food (like Meals on Wheels, but out of a 4x4 Jeep in the coastal jungle).
Salasaca has one of these friends; we'll call him R. R is an American expat who helps run and fund the small school in the village. He is, I assume, retired, and is just a do-gooder who wants to do something more than sit around sipping piña coladas. So he runs a school.
He has gathered materials to conduct English courses and already has developed his curriculum. I will just be assisting in English instuction with the materials and courses already provided by R.
The biology class I am designing completely. I was creating lesson plans using activities I found online, but I was then translating everything into Spanish, which was very tedious and unnecessary. I discussed with R the difficulty of developing a course and translating it all, which is not very efficient, so he agreed that I would continue the course development once I arrived in Ecuador. I will purchase a biology text in Spanish in Quito, and it will be more cost-efficient to make copies of the whole book than buy everyone there own copy. R will worry about the funding for the resources I need, so that is terrific for me! I only need to work on making a good class. The biology class will not start until later in the year, so I have some time to purchase a book in Quito and develop lesson plans (with no translating, yay!) while I am helping with the English courses.
I have been given a great opportunity by R and the community of Salasaca because they have welcomed me to teach and because R has been so generous in procuring any funding needed. Unlike a volunteer program which charges foreigners exhorbitant amounts of money to work, often with other foreigners or tourists, I will be working in exchange for room and board and Quichua lessons. I have been very fortunate in being given this opportunity, which is why I have worked hard to learn some Quichua (to show respect to the local culture) and to bring books (to help in R's appeal to build up the school library). (SPECIAL THANKS to parents and grandparents, who really helped get together a donation of 50 books in Spanish for children!!!)
An interesting story: R sent me an email inquiring as to whether or not I would be able to bring a water pump to the village. The pump that provides water has broken, and R has sent a new 30 pound pump to me so that I can bring it in my luggage. I hope it arrives soon! I'm getting nervous that it won't come in time. The sucker is 3 inches over the size limit for luggage, so I will have to wait til it gets here and mash it down somehow so I don't get slammed with an oversized luggage fee.
In most coutries in Latin America, you can only bring in items tax-free if they are for personal use, so it's going to be interesting if I get questioned! (Yes, customs officer, sir, I always carry around a water pump large enough for a village, you know, you never know when you'll need one! Just the other day, I was hiking in the Redwoods, and I had a desperate need for a village-sized water pump, but I had left it at home. So I told my friends, "I'm never leaving home without this baby again." Yep, personal use 30 pound water pump, sir.)
More posts soon...
How does this whole teaching thing work exactly? As some people (Ashli!) observed, I haven't discussed the logistics much, but I figured they be boring. But here they are anyway.
Like anywhere else in the world, Ecuador has its share of American and European expats fleeing their First World comforts in search of... what? I don't know exactly. A purpose? A simpler life (a phrase often used, though probably not PC nowadays)? Take, for example, Bob, who Mark and I met in rural Mexico. He is a former US Marine who retired to the Mexican coast and now spends his days and some of his pension working with a local Mexican nurse just doing good, in general. They help fund school uniforms, they get their American friends to bring medical and educational donations when they come, they visit elderly people and give them food (like Meals on Wheels, but out of a 4x4 Jeep in the coastal jungle).
Salasaca has one of these friends; we'll call him R. R is an American expat who helps run and fund the small school in the village. He is, I assume, retired, and is just a do-gooder who wants to do something more than sit around sipping piña coladas. So he runs a school.
He has gathered materials to conduct English courses and already has developed his curriculum. I will just be assisting in English instuction with the materials and courses already provided by R.
The biology class I am designing completely. I was creating lesson plans using activities I found online, but I was then translating everything into Spanish, which was very tedious and unnecessary. I discussed with R the difficulty of developing a course and translating it all, which is not very efficient, so he agreed that I would continue the course development once I arrived in Ecuador. I will purchase a biology text in Spanish in Quito, and it will be more cost-efficient to make copies of the whole book than buy everyone there own copy. R will worry about the funding for the resources I need, so that is terrific for me! I only need to work on making a good class. The biology class will not start until later in the year, so I have some time to purchase a book in Quito and develop lesson plans (with no translating, yay!) while I am helping with the English courses.
I have been given a great opportunity by R and the community of Salasaca because they have welcomed me to teach and because R has been so generous in procuring any funding needed. Unlike a volunteer program which charges foreigners exhorbitant amounts of money to work, often with other foreigners or tourists, I will be working in exchange for room and board and Quichua lessons. I have been very fortunate in being given this opportunity, which is why I have worked hard to learn some Quichua (to show respect to the local culture) and to bring books (to help in R's appeal to build up the school library). (SPECIAL THANKS to parents and grandparents, who really helped get together a donation of 50 books in Spanish for children!!!)
An interesting story: R sent me an email inquiring as to whether or not I would be able to bring a water pump to the village. The pump that provides water has broken, and R has sent a new 30 pound pump to me so that I can bring it in my luggage. I hope it arrives soon! I'm getting nervous that it won't come in time. The sucker is 3 inches over the size limit for luggage, so I will have to wait til it gets here and mash it down somehow so I don't get slammed with an oversized luggage fee.
In most coutries in Latin America, you can only bring in items tax-free if they are for personal use, so it's going to be interesting if I get questioned! (Yes, customs officer, sir, I always carry around a water pump large enough for a village, you know, you never know when you'll need one! Just the other day, I was hiking in the Redwoods, and I had a desperate need for a village-sized water pump, but I had left it at home. So I told my friends, "I'm never leaving home without this baby again." Yep, personal use 30 pound water pump, sir.)
More posts soon...
Saturday, May 12, 2007
I like big knives! and other new stuff...
My new knife :)
In preparation for my next four months, I have finally given in, and, yes, you won't believe it... bought some things. I'm really bad about buying new things for myself, because I hate spending money unless I absolutely NEED to, so my resistance to buying a new pack and shoes resulted in some debates with Mark, thus:
Mark: But you NEED new hiking shoes.
Me: Well, I don't NEED them. I could wear my old ones.
Mark: Aren't your old ones falling apart? Hasn't all the lining been worn out? Don't they KILL your feet within five minutes?
Me: Well, yeah, but I don't know if I absolutely NEED to buy new shoes.
Mark: Aren't you in horrible pain when you wear the old ones?
Me: Well, yeah, but-
Mark: YOU NEED NEW SHOES! BUY THEM!
Me: But-
Mark: BUY THEM!
(We had this discussion about 10 times.)
then the pack discussion:
Me: Well, I can just keep sewing the zippers and the shoulder strap. Even though the shoulder strap pops off every time I sew it, and I can't hardly carry the bag around.
Mark: That strap is demolished! You CAN'T carry that pack around. It's falling apart. You can't zip it. And that main strap won't even let you carry it.
Me: But packs are so expensive. I can just-
Mark: NO, you can't! Buy a new pack!
Me: But-
Mark: You NEED a new pack.
Mark says I have a very interesting idea about what I need. As in, any other reasonable person would recognize these things as necessities. I think perhaps I am being extravagant for buying nicer newer gear. But my old stuff is really in unusable shape.
So, I broke down. I found AMAZING North Face hiking shoes (retail 130 dollars) that were on sale for 90 bucks. They are like walking on air. I didn't know shoes could be that awesome! And I got a new pack (retail 175 dollars) at the Wilderness Exchange for 100 bucks. It's 6000 cubic inches (i.e. HUGE), and, best of all, the zippers and the straps all work.
Then, it was time for the "for me" purchase. And of course, what more could a girl like me want than a huge freaking KNIFE, just like I always wanted while traveling. I think I can't carry it in our country because it would be considered a concealed weapon, but it will be nice in Ecuador. I think it's a good compromise between the good ol' Swiss Army and a machete.
So I've spent a whopping 230 bucks for a pack, hiking shoes from God, and a bad-ass knife. But Mark keeps reassuring me that they are "necessities." I keep thinking about how 230 bucks is about my monthly budget down in Ecuador!
Thanks, Mom. I consider my complete unwillingness to spend money on things to be inherited from you!
In preparation for my next four months, I have finally given in, and, yes, you won't believe it... bought some things. I'm really bad about buying new things for myself, because I hate spending money unless I absolutely NEED to, so my resistance to buying a new pack and shoes resulted in some debates with Mark, thus:
Mark: But you NEED new hiking shoes.
Me: Well, I don't NEED them. I could wear my old ones.
Mark: Aren't your old ones falling apart? Hasn't all the lining been worn out? Don't they KILL your feet within five minutes?
Me: Well, yeah, but I don't know if I absolutely NEED to buy new shoes.
Mark: Aren't you in horrible pain when you wear the old ones?
Me: Well, yeah, but-
Mark: YOU NEED NEW SHOES! BUY THEM!
Me: But-
Mark: BUY THEM!
(We had this discussion about 10 times.)
then the pack discussion:
Me: Well, I can just keep sewing the zippers and the shoulder strap. Even though the shoulder strap pops off every time I sew it, and I can't hardly carry the bag around.
Mark: That strap is demolished! You CAN'T carry that pack around. It's falling apart. You can't zip it. And that main strap won't even let you carry it.
Me: But packs are so expensive. I can just-
Mark: NO, you can't! Buy a new pack!
Me: But-
Mark: You NEED a new pack.
Mark says I have a very interesting idea about what I need. As in, any other reasonable person would recognize these things as necessities. I think perhaps I am being extravagant for buying nicer newer gear. But my old stuff is really in unusable shape.
So, I broke down. I found AMAZING North Face hiking shoes (retail 130 dollars) that were on sale for 90 bucks. They are like walking on air. I didn't know shoes could be that awesome! And I got a new pack (retail 175 dollars) at the Wilderness Exchange for 100 bucks. It's 6000 cubic inches (i.e. HUGE), and, best of all, the zippers and the straps all work.
Then, it was time for the "for me" purchase. And of course, what more could a girl like me want than a huge freaking KNIFE, just like I always wanted while traveling. I think I can't carry it in our country because it would be considered a concealed weapon, but it will be nice in Ecuador. I think it's a good compromise between the good ol' Swiss Army and a machete.
So I've spent a whopping 230 bucks for a pack, hiking shoes from God, and a bad-ass knife. But Mark keeps reassuring me that they are "necessities." I keep thinking about how 230 bucks is about my monthly budget down in Ecuador!
Thanks, Mom. I consider my complete unwillingness to spend money on things to be inherited from you!
Friday, May 11, 2007
Poverty equals poor education
So, out of curiosity, I looked up the stats on the school where I am an after-school bilingual teacher. New Highland Academy
Here's what I found out:
30% African American
70% Latino
0 (yes zero)% White
90% economically disadvantaged
60% non-English speakers
15% of students met California school fitness standards
7% of students passed the state standardized test in language arts
13% of students passed the state standardized test in math
lowest academic performance score possible according to California standards (1 on scale of 1-10, 1 being lowest performance)
Lesson learned: No money and no English = no education for you.
My kids come in scared because people were coming in their houses with guns. Violence erupts everywhere. We had to round up 90 kids and fortress ourselves into the cafeteria when adult mothers started a violent fight. The police regularly drop by the area, responding to violence in the schoolyard or mothers who arrive drunk. Many of the parents reek of marijuana when they come to get their children. The feds come in to the children's homes and rip apart families, sending back someone's sister who doesn't have papers while her babies get to stay in the USA because they are citizens but their teenage mother is not. And the thing that sucks the most is the five-year-old girls I am teaching now might be teenage mothers deported back to Mexico in a few years because opportunities just aren't available to them. Education in our country is great. If you live in a rich white suburb. If you are a legal resident. If you speak English.
Rant over.
Here's what I found out:
30% African American
70% Latino
0 (yes zero)% White
90% economically disadvantaged
60% non-English speakers
15% of students met California school fitness standards
7% of students passed the state standardized test in language arts
13% of students passed the state standardized test in math
lowest academic performance score possible according to California standards (1 on scale of 1-10, 1 being lowest performance)
Lesson learned: No money and no English = no education for you.
My kids come in scared because people were coming in their houses with guns. Violence erupts everywhere. We had to round up 90 kids and fortress ourselves into the cafeteria when adult mothers started a violent fight. The police regularly drop by the area, responding to violence in the schoolyard or mothers who arrive drunk. Many of the parents reek of marijuana when they come to get their children. The feds come in to the children's homes and rip apart families, sending back someone's sister who doesn't have papers while her babies get to stay in the USA because they are citizens but their teenage mother is not. And the thing that sucks the most is the five-year-old girls I am teaching now might be teenage mothers deported back to Mexico in a few years because opportunities just aren't available to them. Education in our country is great. If you live in a rich white suburb. If you are a legal resident. If you speak English.
Rant over.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Kids, kids
I assume people know most things about me but turns out more people read this than I thought. So, to explain, I am pulling off a short between-two-Ecuador-stays stint as a bilingual after school teacher. I teach Kindergarten through second grade, mostly my students are Mexican (with one or two Guatemalans and Salvadorans) and speak little to no English. This is in East Oakland.
My five-year-olds love learning about Ecuador. Although they are much more interested in cutting and pasting together Ecuadorian flags out of construction paper and making Quichua-style jewelry from the fake gold beads I bought at Michael's, and getting them to write a sentence on the actual content of the short books I wrote for them is like pulling teeth. But that's understandable. They're five. The new tactic is: complete the very short workbook, and you get to participate in the craft/activity/assorted manners of creating a complete mess.
As for this summer, I have developed a short curriculum for the class in biology that I am creating for the students in Ecuador. However, I've been very bad about the actual lesson planning as I have been very busy. I really need to pull this all together in the next two weeks as I am leaving then!
Speaking of which, I should really give my notice at my job! I think I was supposed to give a month's notice. Oops! I told my most intelligent student (I know we aren't supposed to say things like that, but she definitely is the smartest)... well, I told her that I would be leaving, and she got a concerned look on her face and said "pero, quien nos va a ayudar con la tarea? (but, who is going to help us with our homework)." Talk about guilt. I reassured her that the new Latino guy that was hired speaks Spanish, but she didn't look too happy. I feel bad, but I'm not exactly going to change my plane ticket...
At least it's good to know that even though they grind Playdoh into the carpet, call me "tonta" (a fool), drool juice onto my just cleaned khaki pants, and write all over the class with permanent markers, deep down, they like me. Kids all over the world are really the same.
Speaking of kids, one word I have never found much use for before in Spanish that has become part of my daily vocabulary:
"Baba." It means "drool." :)
My five-year-olds love learning about Ecuador. Although they are much more interested in cutting and pasting together Ecuadorian flags out of construction paper and making Quichua-style jewelry from the fake gold beads I bought at Michael's, and getting them to write a sentence on the actual content of the short books I wrote for them is like pulling teeth. But that's understandable. They're five. The new tactic is: complete the very short workbook, and you get to participate in the craft/activity/assorted manners of creating a complete mess.
As for this summer, I have developed a short curriculum for the class in biology that I am creating for the students in Ecuador. However, I've been very bad about the actual lesson planning as I have been very busy. I really need to pull this all together in the next two weeks as I am leaving then!
Speaking of which, I should really give my notice at my job! I think I was supposed to give a month's notice. Oops! I told my most intelligent student (I know we aren't supposed to say things like that, but she definitely is the smartest)... well, I told her that I would be leaving, and she got a concerned look on her face and said "pero, quien nos va a ayudar con la tarea? (but, who is going to help us with our homework)." Talk about guilt. I reassured her that the new Latino guy that was hired speaks Spanish, but she didn't look too happy. I feel bad, but I'm not exactly going to change my plane ticket...
At least it's good to know that even though they grind Playdoh into the carpet, call me "tonta" (a fool), drool juice onto my just cleaned khaki pants, and write all over the class with permanent markers, deep down, they like me. Kids all over the world are really the same.
Speaking of kids, one word I have never found much use for before in Spanish that has become part of my daily vocabulary:
"Baba." It means "drool." :)
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